


Flower Crown

by tii_puu



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: F/F, Light-Hearted, Spring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 13:45:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10537722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tii_puu/pseuds/tii_puu
Summary: One day in spring, Hinoe manages to do something quite out of the ordinary.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for the 'Light-Hearted' square in my LadiesBingo card.

“What are you doing now?” Reiko asks when she realises that Hinoe isn't just combing her hair any longer, but doesn't turn. She trusts Hinoe, she knows Hinoe won't pull any tricks on her.

“Arranging your hair in a fashion that suits your face better than how you normally wear it.”

Reiko cackles softly, amused by Hinoe's disdainful tone. It is to be expected from a youkai who cares as much about her appearance as Hinoe does. “How long do you think any elaborate hairdo is going to last on my head?”

Despite her protest, she doesn't move away. Her hair is too short for Hinoe to do much more than braid it, but she doesn't mind the attention. She enjoys Hinoe's company, the heartfelt attraction Hinoe feels for her, so different from the fear or mistrust other youkai and humans alike normally direct at her, and enjoys sitting on the grass next to the lake where Hinoe and she first met, doing nothing, worrying about nothing.

She closes her eyes, and focuses on the sensation of Hinoe's hands tickling her scalp and twisting her hair, then tying each braid with small length of ribbon. Once all of her hair has been braided, Hinoe arranges the braids on the top of her head and fixes them in place with a hairpin. Reiko wonders if it's the same hairpin she recovered for Hinoe, tries to imagine herself wearing it.

“Done?”

“No...wait for just a while longer.”

Reiko is a little puzzled, and tries to glance back at Hinoe this time.

“Don't look yet,” Hinoe warns sternly.

Reiko lifts one eyebrow, but does as told. She stretches her legs out on the grass, leans back and props herself on her elbows. The lakeside is gorgeous, with the sakura trees in full bloom and no people to trample on the grass for their picnics and mar the tranquillity of the place.

She startles a little when she feels something being laid on her head – very gently, but suddenly nonetheless.

She lifts one hand and her fingers meet the silky smoothness of a flower petal. She turns towards Hinoe. “A flower crown?”

“Yes. You look...beautiful,” Hinoe says, closing her lips awkwardly, as if she would have liked to say many many more things. “Look at yourself in the lake.”

Reiko walks to the lake, crouches down next to the water and looks at a picture of herself she has never seen before. She could almost fancy herself a princess in some fairy tale from the West. “I guess I do look pretty,” she mumbles, and turns her head left and right – it is indeed Hinoe's hairpin that sticks out from her hair – but as she does, the crown slips from her head and falls into the lake, the poppies in it falling apart as soon as they hit the water. Without knowing why exactly, she begins to laugh, a merry carefree laugh that doesn't sound like her own at all, but touches something deep inside her. It takes her a while to stop, to catch her breath.

“Sorry about the crown,” she says, but when she looks up at Hinoe, Hinoe seems entirely transfixed, staring down at her like she's the one most beautiful thing in the world. She stands up, and Hinoe immediately gathers her in an embrace and presses her lips on her own.

“If I had know it took a mere flower crown falling into a lake to make you laugh like that, I would have made you a thousand already,” Hinoe whispers against her lips.

Reiko smiles, still feeling that carefree happiness bubbling up inside her. “I wouldn't mind having another.”


End file.
